A student from NIT Silchar commits suicide, 40 people are hurt in a police lathi charge, and classmates protest

Officials reported on Saturday that a third-year student at NIT-Silchar is believed to have committed suicide on the school’s campus, which sparked a protest by his peers that descended into violence and resulted in 40 injuries when the police used lathi charges.

The Arunachal Pradesh-born student’s corpse was discovered hanging in his dorm room on Friday night. His peers prevented the police from removing the corpse, claiming that the acts of the college administration caused him to commit suicide.

Two hours later, the students started protesting in front of dean of academics BK Roy’s official apartment on campus as the police finally managed to send the corpse for a post-mortem examination.

They said Roy had ridiculed the victim who had failed his first semester test, which was given online in 2021 due to the epidemic, with six missed credits.

They argued that because of the lockdown, he remained at home and was unable to participate in the online courses because of poor internet access, which contributed to the backlog.

In order to remove the backlogs, he had requested that a special examination be held by the authorities, but Roy reportedly insulted him. He reportedly locked himself in his room after this episode, and later his corpse was discovered hanging.

According to Cachar’s Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta, the students reportedly vandalized Roy’s home as the outrage over the tragedy grew.

They also assaulted other authorities, including the police. We had to use a lathi charge at one point to maintain control. We are now looking into the situation, he stated.

Forty students were hurt during the lathi charge, and they were sent to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) for care. According to authorities, several of the kids’ situations are serious.

Dilip Kumar Baidya, the director of NIT-Silchar, expressed compassion for the deceased student but noted that he had a poor academic history. He made a statement about the event and said that “some students fail and they come with illegitimate demands.”

After visiting the college, Cachar’s District Commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha established a committee to look into the event.

However, the students said that they would go on with their demonstration in a democratic way.

One of the protestors said, “We will continue our protest until justice is served. Our classmate died as a result of the wrong decisions made by the authorities.” According to the SP, a sizable police presence as well as one CRPF unit were stationed on campus.